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The International Air Services Commission has granted Australian airlines Jetstar, a low-cost Qantas subsidiary, and V Australia capacity on the Fiji route.
The Qantas Group was awarded 852 seats of capacity per week which must be used no later than April 2010, said the travelweekly.com.au website.
The site reported that V Australia has been awarded 907 seats of capacity per week, but the carrier must launch services by December 31 this year.
While it quoted the Commission as saying that it expected Jetstar and V Australia to compete strongly on the leisure market, it said the allocation of capacity into Fiji was split between the carriers, forcing them to reassess their plans to introduce new services.
The carriers were seeking 1,491 and 1,267 seats respectively and planning daily services between Sydney and Nadi.
The capacity allocations will allow Jetstar to operate four A321 flights per week and V Australia - once Pacific Blue seats are transferred to the airline - six weekly B777-300 services.
“Although the allocations have exhausted existing capacity between Australia and Fiji, Qantas is understood to be preparing further submissions to the International Air Services Commission (IASC),” the website said.
But it quoted one insider as saying: “Fiji is a perfect leisure driven market for Jetstar. It wants to fly there.”
The IASC said four weekly flights “should be sufficient for it to compete effectively” with Air Pacific and Virgin.
The website said Virgin was expected to plough ahead with a December launch of flights.
The IASC said V Australia will be able to operate its desired daily services should it use 360 unused seats currently held by Pacific Blue. However, Virgin has indicated that capacity was being held to add services to Melbourne and Adelaide in 2010.
In its ruling, the IASC said awarding the entire seat allocation to one or other of the carriers would potentially have created an anti-competitive marketplace.
